The situations in which hand lettering is required are myriad.
In many cases no guides are provided, resulting in inferior, difficult to read, or disfiguring lettering. In some cases light guidelines are provided, resulting in a distraction from the general appearance of the article. In other cases complex separate apparatus is used to provide neatly guided letters. All of the known systems and devices have drawbacks, and it is fair to state that no satisfactory system for providing lettering guides has been devised.
One of the most common situations in which hand lettering is required is in the lettering of name tags for use in business, fraternal or social gatherings. The difficulty of creating good-looking lettering on name tags is well recognized by all who attend such gatherings.
Before preparing an application, a search was caused to be made in the United States Patent Office for lettering guides in class 35 teaching, subclasses 36, 37 and 26, in Class 33, drafting equipment, in Class 283, printed matter, subclasses 45 and 46 and in Class 40, sign exhibiting. We checked our search and results with Patent Office Examiner-experts Grieb and Haroian.
Examples of the closest U.S. Pats. that were found are Nos. 3,638,332; 3,514,874; 2,806,299; 1,253,758; 3,084,455. No suggestion of the present invention was found.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,638,332 is an example of the closest embodiment that was found. Colored lines guide letters. Neither that patent nor any other patent suggests peelable strips.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,514,874, 2,806,299 and 1,253,758 describe underpaper fixed guides, lines, slots or crosswires.
Adhesive materials are used in U.S. Pat. No. 3,084,455, but they do not have the function of the peelable lettering guide strips of the present invention.
Other examples of lettering guides are found in Class 33, Class 35, Class 40 and Class 283 of the Official Classification of Patents in the United States Patent Office.